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Mimicking the Brain Extracellular Matrix in Vitro : A Review of Current Methodologies and Challenges
Author(s) -
Rauti Rossana,
Renous Noa,
Maoz Ben M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
israel journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.908
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1869-5868
pISSN - 0021-2148
DOI - 10.1002/ijch.201900052
Subject(s) - extracellular matrix , chemistry , in vitro , matrix (chemical analysis) , neuroscience , microbiology and biotechnology , nanotechnology , computational biology , biophysics , biochemistry , biology , materials science , chromatography
The brain's extracellular matrix (ECM), a 3‐dimensional macromolecular network that supports cell growth and viability, has crucial roles in homeostasis and disease. Accurate recapitulation of the chemical, structural, and mechanical properties of the ECM in brain cell cultures is essential for the development of translatable in vitro models; however, thus far, this task has proven highly challenging. This review provides an in‐depth discussion of this challenge, including an overview of the properties of the ECM that in vitro models should endeavour to capture, a survey of ECM analogues that are currently used for this purpose, and a discussion of the main hindrances to developing more effective ECM‐like coating materials.